


Journey In The Panhandle

by daddychilton



Category: Halt and Catch Fire
Genre: M/M, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2018-02-10 10:59:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2022630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daddychilton/pseuds/daddychilton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On their way to COMDEX, Joe, Cameron, Donna and Gordon have a bit of fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Journey In The Panhandle

 “So we’ve got Texas, Texas, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Texas, Rhode Island, Texas and Texas,” Donna said, laughing from the backseat. They’d been playing the license game for the last hour, and so far they were all having fun. 

“You know,” Cameron started, turning around in the passenger seat to look at Donna, her expression sober and serious, “I don’t think we’ve seen a Texas plate yet. Do you think we’ll be able to find one before we get to Nevada?” Everyone was quiet for about two seconds, then they all burst into laughter.  They’d been in the car for about six hours and were in the panhandle, just past Amarillo. Tumbleweeds shook in the ditches, itching to roll out into the road and probably cause a wreck for those that weren’t from the windy south. Joe saw some that were half his height and twice his width. They were on I-40, and they still had about 13 hours left of each other.

Gordon was laughing the hardest, almost sounding like a raspy donkey. Joe didn’t know what had come over the man in the last twenty-four hours, but he was enjoying it. Sure, Gordon was fun when he was uptight and acting like a drama queen, but loose Gordon was even better. He was actually tolerable. Joe thought he finally understood why Donna married him: he might be a big, dramatic bear cub but he was also a big, _goofy_ , dramatic bear cub.

“Oh, look! Hawaii! Write it down!” Cameron shouted, pointing at the red mustang that was passing them.

Donna hadn’t been able to stop giggling since she started, and at this, she dropped the notepad she was holding in her lap and covered her face with her hands, gasping for air.

“See, Joe, I told you – you’ve made us all crazy,” Gordon breathed, still trying to get in control of his laughter. Tears were beginning to pop out of the corners of his eyes.

Joe looked at him through the rearview mirror and smirked. He didn’t say anything because he didn’t have to; he liked Gordon, a lot. He wanted him to know that.

Gordon’s eyes met Joe’s in the rearview mirror and he blushed, with a smile. The laughter had been knocked out of him from the glance, but he felt a sort of glee rush through him from deep within his belly to his cheeks. Joe blinked and his eyes were back on the road. Gordon remained silent.

“Donna, why don’t you start us off with a song,” Cameron said. “You know, a road trip song. Something you’d sing with your girls.”

“Just a—just a sec, Cam.” Donna took a deep breath, settled her palms in her lap over her notebook and began to sing “Don’t Stop Believing,” and soon enough everyone had joined in and they were jamming to Cameron’s air guitar solo and Donna’s vocal guitar.

In the middle of last chorus (if you could call it that; it was mostly just a cacophony of unharmonious voices at this point), Joe looked into the rearview one more time and saw Gordon staring back with a grin. He pushed his glasses up his nose in a way that Joe found incredibly endearing and began to air drum.

What could he say? The big, dramatic bear cub was growing on him.

When he turned his eyes back to the road, one of those giant tumbleweeds had rolled onto the highway. Joe swerved into the fast lane, and luckily there wasn’t a car beside them. He dodged the tumbleweed, but the car was silent.

“Holy shit,” Cameron said. “We were almost killed by a fucking _bush_.”

For a moment, everyone sat in silence, then the laughter came again. It had infected them, like a disease, ever since they hit the road, and they were all glad for it.

After all, they were only crazy.


End file.
